This book is only the beginning of a series of 11 volumes written over 17 years! Vassula Ryden was approached by her Guardian Angel one day for the eventual purpose of being taught by God Himself (just as He tells us in scriptures "my children will be taught by Me") to write a 'Prophetic Call' to ALL humanity for peace, love, repentance and reconciliation...very much in the way the 'Old Testament'prophets wrote to warn people of their sinful nature and evil in the world and how they needed to repent and live a holier life to reduce evil in the world, when they were approached by God. Vassula is NOT a theologan or a philosopher and never had formal training on ANY religion, so it is quite impossible for her to know ALL of the spiritual matters in which she writes, which proves she is authentic as she does NOT speak of her own authority. These messages are a great treasure Jesus has been saving for "Our Times." It is evident that this charism has PROFOUNDLY changed her life as being a simple housewife with 2 children, she, like many of us, was far from God, living her own elaborate life... has made approx 750 trips all around the world from Shri Lanka to California (travels through charity) to speak in places we could hardly imagine, to share God's Love for us, FREE OF CHARGE, she does not receive nor ask for any money, but asks that we learn to give charity from our hearts to others, in fact proceeds from the sale of tapes and books and any donations go to fund the 11 homes for the poor that this ministry has founded as well as offset any publishing costs generously donated by those who labor for LOVE to print and issue the books to those who cannot afford to buy them, for this pleases God. God's Word should be FREE to all and NOT sold for profit(remember Jesus in the Temple and His anger at those who explioted)! We are in the End of Times and He is trying to break through our deafness to save us before these times of Mercy come to an end (and they will). These messages have many different themes (one is Christian Unity) and contain many prophecies about things that have happened already as well as things yet to come about, such as the fall of communism (prophecied 4 years before) to the The World Trade Center (prophecied 10 years ago to the EXACT DAY SEPT 11, 1991) to the rise of the Antichrist and to the TRIUMPHANT VICTORY of Jesus! These messages tell us nothing new from scriptures and in fact it is encouraged that you READ SCRIPTURES when reading True Life in God. There are many prayer groups established around the world and these messages have been published in 38 languages! ....

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The book "My Angel Daniel" chronicles the life of Vassula Ryden who like the rest of us has forgotten God. Then one day, her hand was slowly guided and her angel introduced himself to her through writing. Thus begins Vassula's account of her relationship with her Angel Daniel, God and Jesus, her transformation and purification and finally God's message to us that we are NEVER alone. His message that His love for us is unconditional and His fervent wish for mankind to repent and to go back to Him. I was so inspired by Vassula because like her I lost my faith. I wandered for almost a year, becoming agnostic and feeling angry that God has forgotten me. I read all kinds of spiritual books but none has made the same impact as reading Vassula's account. The book made me go back to my faith and it made me see that God is never silent, hidden and uncaring. He is love and His desire for us is to trust Him that He has everything planned out for us. This book, by all means, deserve every bit of the five stars.

This is a very interesting, fast-paced book that provides a good introduction to Winston Churchill. Indeed, after reading this I was compelled to read "The Unruly Giant", which is a very solid biography recently written by Norman Rose giving further insight into this fascinating historical charactor.

I agree with the other reviewer in saying that Churchill provides an amazing amount of detail about the early exploits of his life, leading one to wonder just how much of it really happpened and how much he chose to embellish when writing this book some years later. Also, Churchill's constant references to contemporary events are sometimes confusing and frustrating unless one knows a lot of the history of the British empire and its political scene during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

None the less, it is a good book to start with if one wishes to learn about one of the 20th century's truly great men.

For a book written by the author when in his 30s (I may be off by a few years), this is incredible. First, because Churchill himself wrote it, and not some professional writer. Second, because of the extreme detail, which suggests either an incredible memory, or a willingness to make up finely constructed overlays of fiction. Maybe this is a little of both. Churchill either covers his tracks well, or presents the facts very pleasantly.

His mom ignores him and his dad holds about 3 substantive conversations with him. In return, he idolizes and idealizes both, consoling himself by getting in trouble at school, and playing army at home. Like a latter-day Peter the Great, his childhood army games lay a foundation for adult army leadership, although Churchill stays more constrained than the despotic Russian. He maintains, however, a raw animal side to his spirit which stays intact his whole life, resulting, in one memorable event about 40 or 45 years after this book cuts off with Churchill's marriage, where Churchill pauses on an inspection of a European battlefield after the defeat of Germany to urinate on the famed "Siegfried Line" in front of a group of military dignitaries. Naughty boy to the end.

Churchill convincingly puts himself back into young boy mode and preserves for us portraits of his nurse, Mrs. Everest, the hatefulness of boarding school, and the release of achieving self-actualization in the form of military school at Sandhurst, and then a whirlwind of military adventures on several continents, arranged mostly by his influential and adulterous mother. Not much adultery here, but William Manchester goes through it in detail in his first of the two-volume set "The Last Lion." Churchill never criticizes his mother; he just takes maximum advantage of her contacts.

In a double inversion of himself as the subject, this is a great summary of how Churchill decided to become a great man by first getting noticed in the middle of adventures, and writing about them during and afterwards. Plus getting paid for the writing to support himself on a scale correlative to other British subjects who either inherited it, or made it big in business. But it was all substrate for his political ambitions.

Teddy Roosevelt thought Churchill was a "show off." Which is probably true, and which comes out clearly in the video-ization of this book, under the name of "Young Winston." But he seems to have been a lovable showoff, and if Kennedy had not intervened, American political aspirants may instead be more self-consiously modeling themselves on Young Winston.

One problem: John Churchill had no male offspring, according to the family tree Winston added to his biography of Marlborough. No problem, just call yourself a Churchill, not a "Spencer-Churchill" or even a "Spencer" and just go to market as a Churchill. Plus make yourself great. He definitely did, and this book records what it also produces.

This series of board books are fantastic.

I started collecting these for my daughter after she was given one at 6 months and this is what we started to read to her every night. She woud sit and demand it to be read over and over and over again. The board pages and are easy for baby and toddler to turn and the pictures (real photography not illustrations) are wonderful.

The phonics book uses everyday objects to help your baby and toddler learn and hear the different sounds the same letter can make.

If your looking for a great picture book to share with your baby this is the one (and the series of books) to buy. You can never have too many books to read with your children.

My toddler loves My First Phonics board book! Like the other titles in the series, this one features photographs of common objects, but this one categorizes them to help toddlers recognize the objects' names phonetically.

Though it is for young readers who are a bit more advanced, even younger kids will enjoy looking at the pictures and naming the objects that they recognize. My toddler has no concept of phonics, but still spends a great deal of time pouring through the photos and pointing and naming familiar objects.

Well worth the price!

A marvellous volume about a subject I as a non-specialist had never thought much about. Gore takes battles that are little more than dusty old names for most of us and transforms them into vivid and tangible events. I especially liked the chapter on the Battle of Hastings, and will forever be haunted by the image of the Norman soldiers singing the Song of Roland while awaiting combat. Every chapter was a fresh, delicious discovery. This was one of those accidental finds in a library that became one of the most memorable new reads of the year (this was 3 years ago; I should be ashamed of myself for not having alerted all of you to it immediately).

An excellent study of the difficulties of military command control in the medival period. This well written text is entertaining and highly informative....especially to a student of difficuties of controlling ancient armies. A must for minature wargamers.

Morton is readable and approachable...until you come upon his allegorical poetry. Dr. Jack Dempsey has unlocked the dense stanzas of Morton. I first encountered Morton years ago and dismissed him as did almost every major New England historian. Not Dempsey. Through his scholarship 'mine eyes have been opened'. Morton loved New England in a very modern sense. His relationship to the Indians and the environment are worth studying. Morton was trained in Latin and understood the mythological figures. Morton related those ancient figures to the circumstances of the 1620's and 1630's. Morton stands in stark contrast to his neighbors twenty five miles away: the Pilgrims at New Plimoth. Adventure, Compassion, Courage...it is all there. Bravo Jack Dempsey!

Thomas Morton's life and influence on early America is under appreciated.In a very entertaining section of the book Dempsey reveals how Morton has been received during the course of our history.Dempsey brings to life the ebullient,prickly,roguish character that Morton was.I learned a great deal about the politics of colonial religious life especially as it effected Native Americans. Of course this influence is still with us today and Dempsey's exegesis on this subject is powerful and persuasive.This book is scholarly but also lots of naughty fun.

Most people come to Vico for one of three reasons: historical perspective (fans of Spengler), philosophical curiosity (fans of Marx), or literary insight (fans of Joyce). Regardless of the motivation, the reader will be confronted with a highly unconventional text at first: the open of the book is an overlong explanation of the bookplate. Then we are faced with a collection of Nietzschian aphorisms. By the third part of the book, if the second part hasn't trigged an interest, the explication of parts 1 and 2 grab and take hold of the reader. The result? Once the reader finishes the book, the seemingly obtuse open seems perfectly reasonable for in the course of the text for Vico assimilates history, anthropology, philosophy, philology, and genealogy into a comprehensive whole which is perfectly symbolized by the bookplate. Though, at times, his premises seem rather far-fetched (Vico himself notes this), the intent of the work is rarely obscured. The only complaint? Perhaps Vico could have expanded the work more to make his attempted scope and range cohere better. But then, Frazier did this in a similar work (The Golden Bough) and we have 12 volumes to show for it!

This is a very unusual book. It is an unorthodox view of history that became the source of inspiration to a diverse group of scholars such as Karl Marx, James Joyce and Marshall McLuhan. It was my reading of McLuhan that caused me to seek out Vico, and therefore, read this book.

If you have an interest in words and entomology, this is a book for you. Vico looks for the origin of civilization in the origin of words, and proposes theories that provoke thoughtful reflection. McLuhan used Vico to chart the future of civilization, as did Joyce.

It is impossible to sum-up this book in a few words, and it is difficult to explain why it is worth reading, but nonetheless, I recommend it to those of you who have stumbled upon it here. If you've gotten to this page, of the 800 million pages in cyberspace, then you are probably someone who should read Vico.

If you've never read Vico before, I highly recommend his autobiography, which contains a scholarly overview of Vico and his thought. It is a slimmer volume than this one, and could help you decide to read-on.

Bart Ehrman has compiled a wonderful reader containing original, firsthand sources from the New Testament/Apostolic Era. Many people are not aware of the variety of early Christian writings that were not included in the current canon. Ehrman has compiled gospels, letters, and stories from the first 100 years of the Christian faith (about 30-130 AD) into one very useful book. Here is what this book contains:

1) Every book of the New Testament canon

2) The Gospel of Thomas, the Gospel of Peter, the Infancy Gospel of Thomas, the Secret Gospel of Mark, the Unknown Gospel, the Gospel of the Ebionites, the Gospel of the Nazareans, and the Gospel According to the Hebrews. However, not all of these are complete and many exist only in fragments or in quotations from Church Fathers.

3) The Acts of Paul and Thecla

4) 3 Corinthians, 1 Clement, the Didache (an early church manual), the 7 genuine letters of Ignatius, the Letter of Polycarp to the Philippians, the Epistle of Barnabas and the fragments of Papias

5) The Preaching of Peter

6) The Shepherd of Hermas and the Apocalypse of Peter (these have been abridged slightly because they are very long)

Each book includes a nice introduction that discusses such issues as authorship, date, content, and theology. The translations of the New Testament books are from the New Revised Standard Version. The early Christian writings are translated by a variety of authors, but all are fairly easy to read. Ehrman also includes a general introduction that examines important issues like canonization and biblical texts. This book is meant to be a companion to Ehrman's textbook, The New Testament: A Historical Introduction to the Early Christian Writings, but even used alone it is an extremely useful resource. Overall, I highly recommend this book, especially for those who wish to get a firsthand look at the first 100 years of the Christian faith.

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Nick's Kind Of Woman is a must have book! It deals with emotions we are all struggling to understand. Anger, Fusturation, Jeolousy and uncondtional love and knowing how to let go of your love and live your life without him/her. It also teaches you that if you really want someone to love you, you have to be yourself and not what anyone wants you too be. Margot Early captivats her readers with the heart stopping emotions of her characters and she is one of the best writer's in romance so far.

NICK'S KIND OF WOMAN is the kind of intelligent and emotionally satisfying romance that touches readers' hearts and minds in a deep and lasting way. This book is a must read. A book you'll never forget. -- Laura DeVrie

Readers/buyers may want to know that this book has been republished as _Unlocking the Zen Koan_. Here's what I said about it in a review under its new title:

This translation of and commentary on the well-known Wumenguan/Mumonkan is one of Thomas Cleary's finest works. (I also think highly of his _Dhammapada_.) As reviewer David Johnston has noted in his excellent and accurate review [under the other title], it will clear up plenty of the misconceptions about Zen encouraged by people who (deliberately or otherwise) profit from obfuscation. And Cleary's commentary -- based on some thirty years of experience with the koans themselves -- will provide valuable guidance that those professional obfuscators would probably prefer that you not have.

There are plenty of books out there that purport to be about Zen, but as far as I can tell, only a handful of them are genuinely helpful over the long haul -- Reps's _Zen Flesh, Zen Bones_, Kapleau's _Three Pillars_, Suzuki's _Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind_, the other Suzuki's _Introduction to Zen Buddhism_, maybe Alan Watts's _The Way of Zen_ and Stephen Mitchell's _Dropping Ashes on the Buddha_. Cleary's Wumenguan belongs on the shelf next to these.

Cleary insists (correctly) that Zen is not anti-intellectual or anti-reason ("not blind to causality"), and it doesn't encourage the practitioner to dissolve one's mind (or the world) into undifferentiated mush. On that basis alone, probably half the "Zen" books currently in print can be tossed directly into the trash.

This is a wonderful work. The translations are poetic and the comments very illuminating. Read and follow rigorously the instructions in the forward and you will learn something about Zen mind. It is permanenly on my shelf of most important references.

my wife and i got this volume because we like her work, but were disappointed when it arrived because although the format and care with the reproductions in the book is very good, it does not represent the Merian work that we appreciate. this is what can happen when you have to buy a book sight unseen and the "look inside this book" doesn't offer any interior images. we like her later work and will continue to look for reproductions of that work.

This book is a great source for crafters or artists. There are numerous illustrations of great quality. I bought two -- one to cut up and one to keep!

I couldn't resist this book because I simply like to look at beautiful things - the prints of flowers & insects are exquisite. I like the manageable shape & size of this book, as well as the texture of the paper (very good quality for such a modestly priced book.) Best surprise however, was the information about Maria Sibylla Merian provided at the back of the book - she was a fascinating woman: artist, explorer, botanist, publisher, designer & teacher of embroidery, and provider for her family. I intend to collect more books of her work.